House Blowing Up Builds Character
by Writing-Gecko-Girl
Summary: At this point, all the X-Men had lost count of how many times their house had blown up. Negasonic Teenage Warhead, however, is still unaware of this time-honored tradition. Includes: Colossus, Cyclops, Iceman, Jubilee, and Jean Grey.
**Author's Notes:**

Warhead complaining about the 'benefits of being an X-Man' (the matching uniforms and the house that blows up every few years) was one of my favorite parts of Deadpool (once I watched the X-Men movies and got the joke. I saw Deadpool before any X-Men movies).

* * *

 _Get out of the house._

 _Get out of the house._

 _Get out of the house._

The words entered into her dreams – something that involved a boat on peaceful waters – and Ellie barely stirred. Then the waters grew rough, the boat was tossed around in the waves, and the words continued. But still she didn't wake. Unaware that she was dreaming, Ellie was unconcerned about any house because she was safely on a boat in the middle of the ocean. The waters grew more choppy, the words louder. Her ears began ringing and the boat began to creak. A wave splashed over them and Ellie was drug into the water, sent spiraling toward the bottom of the sea. She couldn't see, couldn't swim, couldn't breathe. She opened her mouth to scream for help, but the water rushed in, filling her lungs and dragging her to the depths of the water.

The sensation of dying was what woke her. It wasn't water at all, but the sheets on her bed that filled her mouth. And she didn't breath them in after falling from a ship, rather, Jubilation was attempting to smother her with them. When her eyes opened her classmate relaxed. "You were talking," she accused. "Something about getting out of the house." Jubilation didn't stop there, she always had more to say, and although Ellie was more than aware of her mouth moving, she couldn't hear her over the sound of the voices in her head.

 _Get out of the house._

 _Get out of the house._

 _Get out of the house._

"Something's coming." Ellie shot out of bed, throwing her covers to the floor and shoving Jubilation in the direction of her own bed, all the while shouting for everyone else to wake up too. Groggily they did as she asked, blinking at her and trying to decide if she was mad as she shoved the few items she care about (and a few packs of gum) into a bag which she threw over her shoulder.

"Move!" she yelled. "Something's coming." She still couldn't hear, although Jubilation was still talking to her and everyone else was asking questions and getting out of bed, although no one else was grabbing their things. Her reputation as being impatient paid off: no one wanted to be the person who didn't listen to her.

 _Get out of the house._

 _Get out of the house._

 _Get out of the house._

"Move!" She shouted. Slowly her sleepy peers seemed to remember that Ellie had enough precognition to have kept her alive on the streets for two years and they copied her, finally beginning to pack and rushing into other rooms, calling out warnings. Someone woke Siryn and she started screaming. It was as effective as a fire alarm at least.

Ellie stumbled into the hall, dragging Jubilation after her. All around them others were stumbling out of their rooms as well, looking around in confusion. All the while she could still hear the voices in her head, repeating their senseless mantra.

 _Get out of the house._

 _Get out of the house._

 _Get out of the house._

She turned on the spot, panting as she tried to decide what to do. Those who had been in her room were looking at her for instruction, the others were wrapped in blankets and looking frustrated. The commotion and the screaming had brought some of the teachers from the other floors, no doubt wondering what was going on. Scott was trying to herd them back to bed, all the while asking who had started it.

"I did!" Ellie shouted, shoving her way through the others, still dragging Jubilation, who took the chance to say, "She had a nightmare."

"Something's coming!" Ellie argued, stepping on Jubilation's foot. "I saw it."

Scott seemed doubtful. He didn't seem to believe in anything unless it came straight from Jean or the Professor. "If something were coming-"

 _Get out of the house._

 _Get out of the house._

 _Get out of the house._

"Something is!"

"Then the manor's security systems would have warned us by now."

Ellie opened her mouth to protest, a string of expletives and insults in five languages already planned, but she was cut off by a blaring sound, coming from the manor's aforementioned security system. She smirked at Scott.

Scott didn't say a thing to Ellie, turning and addressing the hallway full of teenagers who were quickly becoming more concerned. "Everyone into the passages!"

Ellie didn't need to be told twice. She pulled Jubilation with her – not mad enough about her comment about nightmares to leave her behind - and was the first into the nearest entrance, leading the pack of worried mutant teens behind her. They hurried down the passages, Ellie didn't even need to look at the arrows painted into the walls to know which way to go, the familiar feeling in her gut directed her to safety.

Jubilation kept asking questions, demanding to know where they were going and how Ellie had known to get them out, but she ignored her, knowing they weren't out of the woods yet.

 _Get out of the house._

 _Get out of the house._

 _Get out of the house._

"Almost there!" Ellie finally shouted, as the voices began to fade and she could see the end of the tunnel ahead of them. The teens crowded around the door as Ellie fumbled with the lock. Jubilation, growing impatient, threw her aside and zapped it. Ellie was pressed against the wall as the others rushed past her, not able to do anything except keep herself from being knocked over and trampled. Once they were out of the way, Ellie looked back down the passage. They were supposed to have someone in the rear during evacuations to prevent anyone from being left behind, but no one had been appointed in the panic. But somehow she knew there was no one behind them. The others had scattered in different ways, panicking as they went and following other passageways that would take them to different exits. Ellie stepped out and shut the door.

It seemed none of the adults had followed them through that particular set of passages, and now the others were all looking at her, as though expecting her to be in control. 'Come on,' their eyes seemed to say. 'You got us into this mess. Now what?'

"Don't look at me," she snapped, sitting beside the door, resting her chin on her knees and wrapping her arms around her legs. "I'm not adult."

Almost as though it had been waiting for those words, behind them she heard a sonic boom. The trees shook and the clearing filled with light. Ellie didn't need to look to know that the X-Mansion – the closest thing to a home she had ever had – had been blown to smithereens.

Around her the others began to rapidly converse. What were they going to do now? Would the school stay open? Had everyone else gotten out safely? Who had attacked them? Someone suggested sending a group in search of teachers. Others said they should stay where they were. A few suggested going in search of a road.

Ellie ignored their panicked words and popped a piece of bubble gum into her mouth. With the same certainty that she had known they needed to get out of the house, she knew they were perfectly fine where they were.

"Warhead?" Bobby was looking at her hopefully. "Do you know where the teachers are?"

"Nope." She blew a bubble. Bobby froze it and it feel to her lap, miraculously intact. Frustrated Ellie glared up at him. "I'm not Jean."

"But you knew to get us out."

She lifted the frozen bubble from her lap and studied it with a raised eyebrow.

"Ellie?" Jubilation asked hopefully. The clearing went silent and Ellie turned her eyes to Jubilation, who seemed to realize her mistake. "Warhead," she corrected quickly.

The clearing seemed to hold its breath as they waited to see what Ellie would do. Many of them had never seen her called by her real name before. Colossus and Professor Xavier were the only ones she let use it. "I don't know where the others are. I have premonition, not echo location." She paused for a moment, and then pointed with the hand that was not holding her frozen bubble gum. "If you want to look for them in the woods in the middle of the night, be my guest."

Bobby exchanged glances with Jubilation. "Are we safe here?"

"We aren't unsafe."

"Good enough for me." Bobby sat beside Warhead and pulled Jubilation to sit on his other side, then pulled his blanket off his shoulders, throwing it so that it covered all their legs.

Warhead set the frozen bubble in his lap, then shook the blanket off and moved three feet before sitting back down, partially hidden between a bush and the door. It was going to be a long night. She settled in and tried to make herself as comfortable as she could in the small space.

Jean found them a few hours later. Jubilation had fallen asleep on Bobby, and Warhead still had a three-foot radius between her and anyone else. Most of the students had fallen asleep, but a few – Warhead among them – were still wide-awake.

Jean woke them all up with the 'good' news that even though the house itself was half-destroyed (one whole side, including all their rooms, was completely gone), Professor Xavier confirmed that everyone was alive, and the underground tunnels (including the Danger Room, Cerebro, and many of the other training rooms) were still intact. At least they would have somewhere to stay while the house was repaired. She rounded them up and counted them, making sure they all gathered what few belongings they had brought with them before leading them away. They didn't even notice that Warhead didn't follow them. Since Jean had been told they were all safe, she didn't worry, assuming that the other students would make sure that everyone who had come out of the tunnel with them would keep an eye out for everyone else. The X-Men worked as a team after all.

When Jean had finally showed up and she had finally felt the safety of her presence slide through her mind, the strain of the last few hours had overtaken her and she had slid into a deep sleep where she sat. If the other students were safe, Ellie's brain was finally willing to let her rest, as though it didn't realize that her protector was walking away as well.

When she finally woke up the sun had risen and was filtering through the trees. Upon looking around the clearing and discovering that it was empty she remembered Jean's rescue the night before and how none of them had bothered to make sure she was coming. She sighed and stood, stretching her sore muscles that protested being forced to move after sleeping on the rough ground. It had been so long since she had been on her own; her body had become accustomed to having a bed to sleep in. Ellie shouldered her bag and looked around, trying to remember the best way back to the house.

The doors to the passages could only be opened from the inside so that no one could invade the manor through them and she couldn't remember enough of the night before to remember what directions she had taken through the passage that had brought them out to where she was, and as far as she knew there weren't signs in the woods. Since the ground was clear of leaves or fresh dirt there was little hope of following the footprints left by Jean and the other students. Warhead stood by the door, looking around, hurt and lost. Even after she had saved them, they had all gone home without her.

She kicked the ground in frustration, her bare toes sending clots of dirt flying. "Who needs the X-Men anyway," she growled, digging in her bag. Who wants to live in a house that blows up with a bunch of freaks who didn't even realize someone was missing. She had a few coins rattling in the bottom, and vaguely she wondered if it was enough bus fair to get her back to New York City, where she could blend back in as she had before. Still uncertain of what her end goal was – returning to New York or the Institute – Ellie set off into the woods determinedly, the thought of remaining at the door for someone to find her never crossed her mind.

Before the sun was at its highest point Ellie's throat and mouth were so dry even chewing gum didn't make her feel better. Her head buzzed and her pajamas clung to her sweaty skin. Since she had run from her room so quickly, she hadn't taken the time to put on shoes and her feet were protesting the abuse. She couldn't remember which way she had come from, let alone begin to get her bearings on where the manor or a road might be found. For all she knew she had been going in circles for hours.

"Hello!" she shouted. "Anyone?" No answer came except for a few birds scattering from their perches. For the second time that morning she kicked the ground in frustration. "Life hates me," she snarled, picking up a rock and hurling it into the trees. "Everyone hates me!" Another rock sailed out of sight. "The X-men are stupid" – another rock was tossed, this one hitting a tree and bouncing to land beside her – "selfish" – she grabbed it again and hurtled it farther than before – "bastards!"

"Well I hate all of you!" she shouted, throwing one last rock before sitting down and leaning against a tree trunk, a rock clasped firmly in her hand. Since coming to the school and realizing that a bit of anger could be, quite literally, explosive, Ellie had done her best to keep her emotions in check, leading some of her classmates to believe she didn't have any. None of them realized she acted that way out of fear of her powers, sometimes Ellie herself didn't even realize it consciously. "No one even bothered to come looking for me." Never mind that she had run off without giving them a chance. Her mind was set, she was going back to New York where she had a chance of finding someone who would like her. Ellie stared at the rock she was holding, fighting the confused emotions that were welling up in her chest. It was easier to be angry than let her guard down and show the fear and overwhelming loneliness in her heart; far better to act as though she didn't want friends than to admit she was afraid to make and then lose them.

Her grip on the rock tightened, and she drew her arm back, eyes squeezed shut against the welling emotions. Ellie imagined herself throwing the rock through the entrance hall of the Institute, in her mind's eye she could see the windows all breaking and the students running for cover. She flung it forward with all her might and then curled up again, hiding her face in her knees with her eyes still shut. Throwing the rock hadn't made her feel any better.

In the trees she heard the rock collide with something and then a strangled cry of pain and surprise.

Ellie sat bolt upright, raising her arms in front of herself in preparation to explode if the need arose. She stood up and slipped around the back of the tree, leaving her bag hidden in the roots, hopefully safe from any fires she might need to start. Something big was coming out of the woods and just before she prepared to launch herself at it, she was hit with an overwhelming sense of deja vu. It was as if she was back in the tunnels under New York again, her powers having just manifested, and she could remember quite clearly the shape that had come through the flames toward her, and the shape of the man he had shrunk into.

"Why do you throw rocks at me?" Piotr asked, stepping out of the woods with the rock she had thrown in his out stretched hand. If the rock had injured him, Ellie could see no sign of it on his exposed face or arms. She was so relived to see him (and that her rock didn't seem to have injured him) that she let out a short burst of laughter, sagging against the tree she was hiding behind.

"What did rock ever do to you?" he asked. As he came closer, it was easy to see he wasn't angry (although Ellie had always thought no one could make him angry), instead he tossed the rock in the air and caught it, seemingly caught somewhere between amusement and concern.

"It existed."

"That is no reason to throw things," he said, still tossing and catching the rock while watching her grab her bag.

"I didn't think I could manage to throw the tree." Ellie swung her bag over her shoulder, not even needing to think about returning anymore. Whatever she had to face with her insane classmates, the school in pieces, or the horrid uniforms couldn't possibly be as bad as what she had to return to in New York.

He chuckled. "Ah. Even I would find that a challenge, and I am much closer to the tree's size."

Jean attributed her size to malnutrition; Ellie blamed it on bad luck. "So unfair."

Piotr tossed her the rock and she caught it, recognizing its familiar weight. It was perfect for throwing. "Bobby saw you were missing," he said. "Could you not have waited for us to find you?"

"I'm not lost. I know exactly where I am."

"Yes, but do you know way out?" Ellie pointed in the direction he had come from. "That goes to cliff."

"I can climb."

"Vy budete mne konets," he muttered, finally completing his slow walk through the woods to her side, his eyes raking her over to ensure she wasn't injured. She raised an eyebrow and he offered a translation, "If you say insist."

Ellie doubted that was really what he said, but she didn't contradict him. "Are you lost too?"

"Hardly. I am sent for stubborn teenager." He said it as though it were almost an insult, and then again, maybe it should be. The more she thought about it the more she realized that her decision had been a very stupid one. Piotr must just be too nice to say it.

"None here."

He met her eyes, as though accepting her challenge. "Then you must know way back to mansion." He continued walking straight, passing her, but something told Ellie that he wasn't going back to the mansion. He was messing with her.

"I might know where one is," she offered, her heart pounding in her chest.

"Oh?"

It's me, she thought, I'm the stupid, stubborn teenager who wondered off barefoot in her pajamas without a few dollars in coins and a mad idea that she could return to New York. But she didn't say that. "I can introduce you to plenty back at school."

For a moment Ellie thought she had won his silly game, but before she could gloat to herself he held out his hand and said, "I am looking for girl who needs shoes."

Xavier or Jean must have known she ran off without shoes. Ellie flushed, trying to snatch the shoes from him, but he pulled back. "Just tell me you are not hurt." Piotr seemed genuinely concerned, but Ellie told herself it didn't mean anything. He always seemed concerned about everything and everyone, it didn't mean she was anything special.

"Just thirsty and hungry." She didn't mean for it to slip out, because god it sounded so pitiful. His face softened and he offered her the shoes without another word, she sat on a fallen tree to cram them onto her feet. When she looked back up he offered her a granola bar.

"Breakfast is very important."

She almost smiled.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

I don't think Ellie is actually fluent in five languages, but I do think she knows curse words in at least that many.

She's also very biased against most of her classmates, which made some of them come off in a rather unflattering light. And I don't think they mean to be rude to her, but somehow I doubt that she is trying to start too many friendships.

According to google translate (I don't speak Russian, unfortunately) "Vy budete mne konets" roughly means "you will be the death of me" which contradicts what he tells Ellie it means. I doubt this phrase has the same connotation in English (then again, it might because who knows), but he's spoken English long enough that some of their phrases have worked their way into his dialect. I also think that he genuinely adores Warhead. You can blame tumblr fanart for this belief.


End file.
